Witchville

Now let me explain I'm giving this a 6 because when it comes to SyFy Channel movies they usually get a 2-4 yet this one had a bit of something different. While the actor I expected to deliver a good performance was only OK (Luke Goss who was so great in Hellboy II) acting by everyone was good, well not counting Sarah Douglas who was well just campy. Now as for the Movie some interesting action scenes & special F/X kept the movie going though dialogue bogged this movie way down. Not many movies are made of Swords & Sorcery so I had my pop and snacks ready watched the whole thing and found it a nice change of pace. Filmed in China some scenes are beautiful. Lots of visual F/X that play well even if they had budget constraints the director worked with what he had making the most of it. I never heard of him before but apparently he has a cult following with a film called Gene Generation. In an interview I googled he discussed putting himself well into the project determined to make a quality film to that end he did considering his budget and a poor script. A stand out was Eragon's Ed Speelers who has grown up a bit and was really kinda funny in the movie. The movie is a mixed bag (well what syfy movie isn't) at times slow, with odd fight scenes at times fun to watch and enjoyable overall if you can record it and skip the commercials you may like it more...until next week when Syfy will no doubt bless us with yet another Saturday Original flick Nuff Said

In the Middle Ages, Erik (Andrew Pleavin) and Jason (Ed Speleers) seek out his compatriot Malachy (Luke Goss) and force him to return to his homeland. When they arrive, they find that Malachy's father, the King, is dead and their lands are completely devastated.

Sooner the witch hunter Kramer (Simon Thorp) meets Malachy and tells him that a coven of witches led by the evil the Red Queen (Sarah Douglas) is the responsible for the destruction of the crops. Malachi teams-up with Erik, Jake, Kramer and four warrior-thieves to find the Red Queen. But the witch is very powerful and the skilled warrior Jozefa (MyAnna Buring) protects her.

"Witchville" has promising storyline and synopsis, and the DVD has a nice cover. Unfortunately, the film is a lame, boring and messy adventure with poor special effects and acting. When the viewer (me) takes a nap along an adventure of the fantasy genre, something is wrong. The verbose plot associated to the low-budget and soap-opera conclusion makes the film painful to watch. Further, Luke Goss is too week for the lead role of a king; MyAnna Buring is gorgeous but also weak for her important role of a warrior. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Caçadores de Bruxas" ("Witch Hunters")

This reminded me a little of "In the Name of the King" (2007). Here instead of Jason Statham though, we have the completely out of his depth Luke Goss as the king "Malachy" and Ed Speleers as his hunky sidekick "Jason" as they try to save the kingdom from the clutches of the evil "Red Queen" (Sarah Douglas). It might have made for a perfectly watchable television movie had the acting been better, but Goss is frankly dreadful as he wields his broadsword with all the menace of a fairy liquid bottle. Speleers is always easy on the eye, but again he makes little impact as their set-piece escapades see them recruit new allies and head for a denouement with the vengeful monarch who breathes red smoke. The budget clearly wasn't huge, but to be fair the special effects folks, they have done a reasonable job at making the film look decent. The story, though, is weak and the writing does little to help overcome the obvious limitations of those delivering it on screen. It might kill ninety minutes on an aircraft somewhere - after a few glasses of something, but otherwise this offers nothing at all new or remarkable.

I wasn't hoping for much but I got even less than that! This 'movie' was not only bad - devoid of any real plot, wit, or meaningful context; lousy special effects; terrible acting; and laughable direction - it was also a throwback to the most simplistic and misogynist view of magic and witches I have seen in ages. At first I thought they were depicting those views in order to turn them on their head but no- that really was the lens of this movie on the world of magic and female power versus civilization. Even the campy stuff wasn't fun because it seemed not to have any sense of humour about itself and how really really bad it was. If you like to watch things that are really really bad in order to laugh at how bad they are, you might find this a treat of some sort. It really is that bad. Did i mention it is bad?

Another turkey! Should be rated Fantasy/Humour/Sleeping Pill. With due respect to a previous reviewer I don't agree with the mantra that it's a TV movie therefore don't expect the standards to be high. Why not? There are MANY TV movies which are probably better than cinema release stock.

The same old repeated clichés, jumps, twists turns, a storyline I've seen on numerous other occasions. Nothing that helps me to like OR dislike the characters.

The best piece of acting came from the witch who was burned in the first quarter of the movie.

Nuff Said